Roma midfielder Leandro Paredes should have received a second yellow card against Inter Milan yesterday.
Today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews, argue that the 29-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus man should’ve been sent off for his challenge on Marcus Thuram.
There was a bit of refereeing controversy in yesterday’s match.
And perhaps that was always going to be the case in a match where Jose Mourinho was coaching one of the teams.
The Portuguese’s touchline ban hardly changed that fact.
But in the view of the Gazzetta, most of the supposed issues with Fabio Maresca’s officiating were more of a tempest in a teapot.
The newspaper argue that Maresca largely got the major decisions right.
This included not awarding Inter a penalty for a coming-together between Nicola Zalewski and Denzel Dumfries in the area towards the end of the first half.
The Gazzetta also argue that Maresca was correct not to send Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu off for a late challenge.
But there is one big decision that the newspaper argue Maresca got wrong.
Leandro Paredes Should’ve Seen Red Vs Inter
Midfielder Paredes was already on a yellow card when he challenge for the ball from behind and brought down Inter striker Marcus Thuram.
The Frenchman immediately appealed for the yellow card.
And so did Thuram’s Inter teammates.
The players were clearly aware of the situation and felt that Paredes’s challenge was worthy of a second yellow.
The fact that Thuram was rushing towards goal was certainly a factor. Paredes did seem to lunge in desperately.
But Maresca did not even see the tackle as a foul.
Rather, the referee viewed it as a tangle of legs, with the Inter striker exaggerating the contact.
But for the Gazzetta, this was the wrong decision. It was a foul and a yellow card, and Paredes ought to have exited the pitch for it.